Domino’s helps thwart hostage scenario for the second time in as many years

A Domino's Pizza cashier was able to intervene in helping secure a woman's freedom.

The woman was purportedly involved in a dangerous hostage situation.

What are the details?

A 32-year-old New Mexico woman and her husband arrived at a Domino's Pizza restaurant in Anthony, Texas, around midnight Tuesday.

The husband reportedly sent her into the restaurant to pick up the take-out pizza they'd ordered.

When she got inside, the woman — who remains unnamed — passed a note to the cashier, pleading for help. The note revealed that her husband was holding her against her will and highlighted her fear.

The woman picked up the pizza without incident, and the employee reportedly phoned authorities to report the note.

Police arrived at the franchise, where they spoke to the cashier. Anthony Police Chief Carlos Enriquez said that the woman lived about eight miles away in nearby Chamberino, New Mexico.

Police found the woman bound, gagged, and beaten at the Chamberino residence when they arrived later that morning. Authorities said that she was crying, but grateful for having been rescued.

Authorities took 22-year-old Roberto Dominguez into custody, arresting him on charges of domestic violence. Enriquez said that Dominguez will also face a kidnapping charge in nearby El Paso County.

"The officers didn't take it [the note] as a joke and investigated it fully and because of their due diligence were able to rescue the woman and get her out of harm's way," Enriquez added.

What else?

In 2018, a Domino's Pizza deliveryman encountered an eerily similar situation.

Pizza delivery man Joey Grundl visited a home where a woman had reportedly been threatened and assaulted. He approached the home, where her ex-boyfriend opened the door to take receipt of the pizza.

The woman inside, who was behind her ex-boyfriend, reportedly mouthed "Help me" to Grundl, and sported a black eye. Grundl immediately phoned authorities after the encounter at the woman's home.

Authorities rushed to the scene and took the woman's ex-husband into custody, charging him with kidnapping, false imprisonment, suffocation and strangulation, intimidation of a victim, and burglary of a building.

The woman later told authorities that she thought she'd certainly die that night.